Choosing Your Protocol and Channel

Choosing Your Protocol and Channel

The two dominant LoRa mesh protocols for community networks are MeshCore and Meshtastic. They are not interoperable - nodes must use the same protocol to communicate.

Protocol Comparison

Feature	MeshCore	Meshtastic
Infrastructure model	Dedicated repeaters + companion nodes	Peer-to-peer; any node can relay
Room servers	Yes - built-in store-and-forward	No nativefull equivalent (an optional Store & Forward module on a PSRAM node is a partial analog, not a room-server/bulletin board)
MQTT gateway	Community brokers (e.g. letsmesh.net)net, meshmapper.cc)	Official public broker (mqtt.meshtastic.org)
Regional scoping	Yes - ISO 3166-2operator-defined region systemlabels (lowercase alphanumeric + hyphen, max 29 bytes) hashed to 2-byte transport codes; no official registry or ISO standard	No
App	MeshCore companion app	Meshtastic app (iOS/Android)
Hardware compatibility	Commonly ESP32 and nRF52840 boards with SX1262 radio (e.g. Heltec V3, RAK4631, T114, T-BeamBeam); v1.2+)some SX1276 boards are also supported. Verify the current board list at flasher.meshcore.io / docs.meshcore.io.	ESP32 and nRF52 boards
Large existing network	RegionMesh (2,500+a USgrowing repeaters)national MeshCore network; see the live map at regionmesh.com for current coverage)	Meshtastic worldwide (meshmap.net)net, a community map - the official map link is on meshtastic.org)

General Guidance

• If your area has an existing RegionMesh presence or you want to contribute to a nationwide infrastructure, choose MeshCore.
• If your community already uses Meshtastic or you need nRF52 hardware compatibility, choose Meshtastic.
• Running both is possible withbut dedicatedmeans gatewayoperating hardware,two butseparate device fleets (the protocols cannot share a radio), which adds operational complexity.

Channel Selection for MeshCore

Most North American MeshCore networks use the USA/Canada preset: 910.525 MHz / 62.5 kHz BW / SF7 / CR5.CR5 (as of 2026-06). This is the default for RegionMesh, NoDakMesh,RegionMesh and others.many other communities; confirm current settings with your local network before deploying, as presets are periodically revised.

If your area has a pre-existing local MeshCore deployment on different settings, match those settings to join that network. Check locally first - then default to the USA/Canada preset.

Channel Selection for Meshtastic

• LongFast preset is the documented Meshtastic default and the most common -widely used by(as NoDakMesh'sof Meshtastic2026-06); segmentsome andcommunities manymigrate otherto communities.MediumFast/MediumSlow as they grow.
• Default channel key: AQ== (the publicly known default key, base64 for the single byte 0x01 - default-channel traffic is readable by any Meshtastic node)
• Hop limit: 3 (default; increase only if you have specific reason to)

Do not use a custom channel key unless your community has a specific reason to create a private channel. Using the default key ensures maximum interoperability with travelers and other local nodes.